Union Solidarity and Development Party

The Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) is a nationalist political party in Burma, founded on 2 June 2010 by Prime Minister Thein Sein; although civil servants were forbidden to form political parties under the Burmese constitution, the Electoral Commission nevertheless approved the creation of the party. The party was backed by the military, which ruled the country with an iron fist, and poor people who joined the party due to Thein Sein's offering low interest rates to party members. The USDP was the ruling party of Burma from 2010 to 2015, when the socialist National League for Democracy under Htin Kyaw won elections and ended the USDP's military rule over the country. The USDP proceeded to become an opposition party in parliament.